1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image archive apparatus configured to archive medical images in the format of multi-frame image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a hospital, an image diagnosis apparatus configured to image the inside of a subject body and generate medical images, an image archive apparatus configured to archive image data of medical images, and a terminal such as a report creation support apparatus, an image observation apparatus and an image processing apparatus configured to receive archived image data to display images and execute image processing are connected to a network.
The image archive apparatus and the terminal transmit and receive image data by communication via the network. In recent years, the image diagnosis apparatus has become capable of sequentially imaging a subject and generating a large number of medical images because the performance thereof has increased. Therefore, the amount of communication in the transmission and reception of image data between the image archive apparatus and the terminal has become large and has become significant load on the data communication traffic.
Thus, regarding the DICOM standard, a concept of multi-frame image data has been proposed recently in which plural medical image data are recorded in one file, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication JP-A 2007-21212. That is, plural medical image data generated in the image diagnosis apparatus are compiled into one file. The multi-frame image data is also referred to as enhanced data, enhanced DICOM data or enhanced image.
In a case where one image data representing one frame forms one file, communication needs to be established every time one image data is transmitted and received. Therefore, numerous transactions are required between an apparatus for transmitting medical image data and an apparatus for receiving it, and significant load is caused on the data communication traffic. However, in the case of the multi-frame image data, all medical images can be transmitted and received in one communication. Therefore, numerous transactions are not required, whereby the data communication traffic is reduced and increase in communication speed may be expected.
At present, the multi-frame image data is highly flexible in terms of the content of configuration, and it is possible to mix image data of various series of examinations. To be specific, it is possible to mix a scout image used for positioning and an image from main scanning, mix images of different series, mix images with different slice thicknesses or different imaging axes, and mix images with different imaging sites.
On the other hand, in the terminal such as the report creation support apparatus, the image observation apparatus and the image processing apparatus, the types of image data actually used are limited to some extent due to the function thereof. For example, a terminal executing the MPR process does not need a scout image, a diffusion image, images with different slice thicknesses, or images with different imaging axes. That is, because the conventional multi-frame image data includes a large amount of image data unnecessary for a terminal to execute image processing, the terminal needs to divide the image data included in the multi-frame image data into necessary images and unnecessary images in the pre-processing after receiving the multi-frame image data. For a so-called legacy terminal in which a relatively old computer is installed, significant load is required to execute the pre-processing, so that the benefit of the increase in communication of the multi-frame image data is mostly offset. That is, convenience of the multi-frame image data is consequently impaired in the total span from request for transmission of image data to image display or image processing.